I Still Love You
by Tripenguinman
Summary: Sequel to Till Death Do Us part. It's still sad.


The sadness gets worse. It's hard on Marlene but she cheers up in the end. Again it's not connected to any of my other stories. Credit to Skoolgrl09 for the idea. You need to read Till Death Do Us Part to understand this. The song is real by the Decembrists again.

I STILL LOVE YOU

It had been a year now. A year since Marlene had married Skipper. Today was their anniversary. Tomorrow would be the anniversary of Skipper's death. She now wore both Skipper's and her own wedding rings. Kowalski had managed to find the wedding ring… a long with the fried flipper that it was on. That was the only thing she had had to bury. A charred bunch of flesh in the shape of a triangle.

The tears came all the time. It wasn't unusual. She got them every day. Everyone brought here flowers- even King Julian- but what good did that do here? The reds only reminded her of Skipper's spilled blood; the purple of her first date with him, the blue (she wasn't really sure where Private got those) only reminded her of his cool iceberg blue eyes.

The tears again. She just lay down on Skipper's pillow and though it had been years, she was still able to smell his masculine, sexy scent as she put her nose against it. She stared at her hand, mainly the ring finger where her only part of Skipper was left. Her vision blurred. Tears. Typical. She wasn't sure when it actually happened but she fell into a slumber and another song was playing.

_O! VALENCIA! _

_You belong to the gang, and you say you can't break away,_

_But I'm herewith my hands on my heart._

_And are families can't agree. _

_I'm your brother's sworn enemy,_

_But I shout out my love to the stars._

_So wait for the stone, on your window, your window,_

_So wait by the car and we'll go, we'll go._

_When first we laid eyes,_

_I swore to no compromise,_

_Until I felt my caress on your skin._

_But how soon we were betrayed!_

_Your sister gave us away, _

_And your father came all unhinged. _

_So look for the stone on your window, your window._

_So wait by the car and we'll go, we'll go._

_But O! VALENCIA!_

_With your blood still warm on the ground!_

_VALENCIA!_

_And I swear to the stars!_

_I will burn this whole city down!_

_Well all I heard was the shout,_

_Of your brother calling me out._

_And you ran like a fool,_

_To my side._

_Well the shot, it hit hard,_

_And your frame went limp in my arms!_

_And an oath of love was your dying cry!_

_So wait for the stone on your window, your window._

_So wait by the car, and we'll go, we'll go._

_But O! VALENCIA!_

_With your blood still warm on the ground!_

_VALENCIA!_

_And I'll burn this whole city down!_

_VALENCIA!_

_WITH YOUR BLOOD GETTING COLD ON THE GROUND!_

_VALENCIA!_

_AND I SWEAR TO THE STARS! I'LL BURN THIS WHOLE CITY DOWN!_

And then she woke up with a start. She could only part way understand why she thought of that. Maybe because she felt like the singer? It was dark and raining outside and as she curled up with the picture of Skipper something startled her. A voice whispered.

"Marlene…"

She looked around the dark room. There was nothing there. She must have imagined it. Then as she settled back into Skipper's pillow and inhaled his scent, it happened again.

"Marlene…"

She opened her eyes cautiously and looked about. She had seen the horror movies when they just yell out to the ghost where they were. Well she wasn't an idiot. She ducked her head under the cover and tried to seem dead. It was the only defense she had.

"Marlene… Please… Listen to me…" it whispered.

It seemed faintly familiar some how. She decided to keep her ears perked but stay hidden.

"Marlene… Please…" it pleaded "Marlene… come to me…"

_Not on your life._ She thought.

"Marlene it's m-me… S-Skipper…"

She sat up and there before her was a figure in the shadows that resembled Skipper.

"Skipper!" Marlene was crying and started to run toward her but he held up a flipper to stop her.

She found it strange that he was concealing himself in the shadows.

"Skipper, can you please come to me?!" she cried happily.

The figure shook its head and she saw it pull out a pad like Kowalski's. It began scribbling on it and the tore the paper off and handed to her. She looked at it.

_How are you my love?_

"Skipper," Marlene said in confusion. "Just talk to me."

It shook its head again and she started to doubt it was Skipper. I pointed at what it had written to her.

"I'm fine." she said nervously, backing away.

The figure waved it's flippers as though it wanted her to stop. It began scribbling on the paper and then handed it to her. She looked down at it.

_Please stay. I want to see you. It's me Skipper._

"Then why won't you talk to me or let me see you or!" Marlene cried and sat down on the floor, full of tears.

The figure scribbled and then handed her another message. She could barely see through her tears.

_Please don't cry. I only have a limited time to see you._

"What do you mean?!" she asked in desperation "And why won't you talk to me?!"

It scribbled and then handed her the paper.

_Ghost are only a loud to come back once in a lifetime._

"But you won't answer my questions!" she screamed

The figure made a kind of snorting sound that sounded like a sigh. It began scribbling for a minute and then tore the sheet off and let her see it.

_I really am Skipper. I promise. I have come to see you and being back on the real earth causes me to look like I did when I was blown up. I can't talk because my beak is messed up. Please just let me look at you. You don't have to see my ugliness. You don't have to touch me I just want to look at you._

"Skipper!" she exclaimed "I don't care what you look like! I love you no matter what. Now let me look at you!"

The figure shook it's head furiously.

"Skipper please!" she pleaded "I don't care what you look like."

The figure refused again and started scribbling on the notepad again. It handed her the note. She noticed that there were little water drops soaking in it like… tears.

_Please I can't handle you looking like you will when you see me. _

But Marlene was determined to see him so with a quick motion, she pushed him into the light. For a brief second she saw him. His right flipper half torn off, his long pink and red scars. The missing eye. The missing pieces of beak, the jagged piece of metal sticking out of his back. It was Skipper. He quickly drew back into the shadows and shook his head hard.

"Skipper, I saw you. I can handle. It please come out here. For me?"

Skipper's form seemed to study her face for a moment and seeing no looks of horror or concern but love. It stepped forward and she saw his one eye staring into her's and amazingly enough, she wasn't crying and yet she saw tears running down the face and it scrunched up and the torn flipper covered it.

"I miss you so much Skipper." Marlene said and hugged the figure, now she was crying.

Skipper hugged back. She didn't mind the roughness of the scars or the bent and crumbly feathers and skin that touched her breast. All that mattered was that she was back in Skipper's arms.

Finally she turned to his face and placed her lips on his beak. She didn't mind the cracks or the dry tongue that touched her lips. His beak was hard at first, for she had caught him by surprise but he slowly softened and began kissing back. When she had finally let most of her crying into his mouth, she felt his flesh and feathers become less solid and she pulled back to see him fading away.

"No wait Skipper!" she cried

Skipper smiled like he use to and scribbled something and then handed it to her and he was gone. She cried for a minute and then looked at the note. She wiped her eyes as she saw what was written.

_I still love you Marlene._


End file.
